°˖✧✿✧˖°
Juliet
"So how'd you sleep last night?" Michonne asked me as we walked.
I shrugged as I struggled to keep Judith's stroller straight, "Better than the night before. Not gonna lie it was pretty comforting having a literal stable roof over our heads for once."
Our first night in Alexandria was definitely one to be remembered. Rick decided that it was much too early for us to separate, considering our track record with groups, it was the obvious call. So the group of us all crammed into the large living room and slept the way we usually did, all basically on top of one another.
Deanna came to check in on us and was rather surprised with our sleeping arrangement but smirked it off. Saying she was rather proud how close we all were after the time we've been together.
She hummed, "Well I for one loved it. Open concept living room was a vast collection of pillows... and air conditioning!"
"Oh now that was heaven," I lightly chuckled. "Much different than the prison?"
Michonne let out a groan, "Don't tell Rick any of this but that prison was god awful. I understand you can't be picky and we made it livable, but..."
"A prison is still a prison even with a coat of paint?"
She snapped her fingers, "Exactly."
When the morning came a plethora of food was left on our doorstep including fresh fruits, peanut butter sandwiches and even an apple pie. It felt rather strange being able to fill my stomach and still have enough for later.
A few baskets of clothing and a stroller were also left outside with a note from Deanna telling us to go out and enjoy the sunny morning, so Rick sent us to do just that. Though I kept looking back to make sure some of the others were there as we walked.
Most started to branch off by our second wraparound the town and before I knew it just Michonne, Judith and I.
I didn't blame any of them for leaving, I shouldn't have expected them to stay all together. Of course the town was pretty beautiful and considering all of the destruction and death we've known, a bit of beauty was needed. There was much to see and if this place was as legit as it seemed we probably wouldn't all be as close as I was used to.
"What do you think of this place?" I suddenly asked her.
"I like it here," she admitted. "I know it's a little early but I've got a good feeling about this place."
I nodded as Judith continued to make loud noises as we passed a person walking a dog, "Do you always trust your gut in situations like these?" I asked.
Michonne nodded, "I do, and it's gotten me pretty far. I mean I had a good feeling about you after all," she pushed me.
I laughed pushing her back, "Well I'm glad your gut told you I was a good person, 'cause it led to me getting this," I pointed to the bandanna around my freshly cut hair.
"Oh yes, my bandanna," My friend let out a dramatic sigh. "You only became my friend so you could get that, didn't you?"
"How did you know?!" I matched her energy with a gasp, "Did you actually think a little girl like me would voluntarily become friends with a scary woman with a sword?" The two of us tried to hold it together before giggling.
That was probably the main reason I loved Michonne so much. Even during the most difficult circumstances she could always bring a smile to my face. Though ever since Deanna compared her to a mother figure I couldn't really unsee it.
But I was okay with that.
"What about you?" She asked as our laughter died down, "You liking this place?"
I simply shrugged, "It's nice."
"Just nice?"
I could feel my cringe turn as I tried to find some good in this place. I mean yes, it was nice but it seemed a little too nice to me. Maybe it was my trust issues but this place had to be too good to be true. There had to be something wrong about it here, I just needed to find out what it was.
"Yeah," I cringed. "It's just a little much for me. I haven't slept in a proper house since I was like twelve. I was kinda waiting for a walker to bang on our door to prove I wasn't dreaming."
She hummed, "Yeah I get that, but I feel like this place will be good for us."
"You think?"
"I know it," she reassured me. "And I know you will too. You might just need to get out there and meet some people here. Deanna said there's a couple kids your age."
"Yeah, and she also said I had to go to school with them too," I murmured.
Michonne stopped walking for a moment, "School?"
"Yeah. I know," I said flatly. "While you guys get jobs in the community I have to learn fractions. If they try to make me do a test on the periodic table I might take my chance with the walkers."
Judith made a grunt as I stopped pushing her stroller to look at Michonne, "Well maybe school here is different?" She tried to explain, "You're probably learning important things like what plants are edible and survival tactics."
I blew a raspberry making her give me the mother of all mother looks before I watched her face slowly sparkle as if she had just gained a devious idea, "Oh no..." I quickly started to push the stroller to escape whatever she had instored for me.
The last time I saw that sparkle Michonne had convinced the group it was a good idea to teach me how to drive, ending in Daryl violently throwing up on the side of the road.
"Oh yes," she quickly ran forward, cutting me off. "I've got some pre-school homework for you."
I groaned as she shushed me, "None of that. I'm being serious right now."
"What do you want me to do exactly?" I whined.
"Deanna told us to explore, and that's what I want you to do," she pointed at me. "You are going to explore the community and make a friend."
My face said it all as I slowly blinked at her, "Seriously?"
"Yes seriously!" She laughed, "You are going to meet some people and to prove to me that you did it they need to sign your cast," she pointed to my white bandages. "By the end of the day I want you to have one friend."
My cast didn't stay perfectly white after the group and I settled in for the night. Rosita found some markers and was the first to write her name on my cast. Saying it was a right of passage for a kid to break a bone and for all their friends and family to sign it. Before I knew it my fibreglass bandages were covered in multicoloured names.
"What do you want me to do exactly? Go up to these people like, 'Hi! My name is Juliet, I'm from the outside and obtained this injury before my leader brutally murdered my assaulter, wanna sign my cast?'" I asked in a very enthusiastic manner.
"Perfect!" She grabbed my shoulders and made me face a house in the distance, "That old couple over there has been watching you and Judith in awe. My gut is telling me babies aren't common here-"
"Are they anywhere?"
She lightly smacked me, "They're your first assignment. Go say hi, show off Judith and get that cast signed!" she pulled away and started to walk in the opposite direction.
"Do I have to?" I whined.
Instead of comforting me she laughed as she walked backwards, "If we're gonna be here for a while you need to branch out to others besides Judith. I want ten signatures before sundown tonight."
I loudly groaned, "What are you gonna do if I don't do it?
"I steal my bandanna back!" She turned around with a wave, "Have fun!"
I could feel my teeth raking over one another as I saw the elderly couple sitting on the porch drinking tea. Huffing I looked down at Judith who was infatuated with her own hand, "You ready for this?"
"Yen-ho," she said with her hand in her mouth.
"Well I'm glad one of us is," I muttered before walking towards the house.
°˖✧✿✧˖°
His name was Ron, at least that's what he wrote on my cast.
"We're almost always here after school, so you can come by any time," he told me as I was led upstairs.
"So Deanna wasn't joking, you guys actually go to school?"
The blonde let out a small chuckle, "It's in a garage. Little kids go in the morning and then it's us in the afternoon. You'll get used to it."
A little while after Michonne forced me to meet people Rick had found me. I don't know why but the man seemed to be more of a wreck at that moment than weeks on the road. He went on to explain that the girl who cut my hair, Jessie's son, had wanted to meet me.
So here I stood. Awkwardly walking next to the first boy I've seen in two plus years. I wouldn't lie and say he wasn't cute, but that might've just been my hormones talking. Seeing boys, let alone anything my age, wasn't something that happened very much.
So when he opened the front door opened and a person of the opposite sex said hi I froze. Luckily he kept on talking so I didn't have to worry about making the situation much more awkward.
"So how'd you break your arm?" He asked, "My friends and I saw you last night getting it bandaged and made bets."
"Bets?" I couldn't help but lightly chuckle.
He did as well, "Okay so we were bored and heard some chick had a radass fracture and got curious. Enid said it was from falling or something but I'd like to believe it was much more badass."
I stopped walking and crossed my arms, "What do you think I did exactly?"
His pale hand ran over the back of his neck, "Well... I might've bet a week worth of chores that you got it from a fight."
My brow rose, "A fight?"
He nodded, "Yeah. You know..." he held up his fists wrong and threw a couple terrible punches through the air.
My mind went right back to how Abraham taught me the proper way to throw a punch after Terminus. Seeing Ron now I couldn't help but convulse at the thought of how bad I must've been back then.
I simply looked him up and down before shaking my head, "Not even close?" He cringed.
Michonne's words played in the back of my head once more. I had to make a friend, something I struggled to even do back before the world went to shit. So taking a page out of her very own book I put on a smirk, "Tell you what? I'm not going to tell you how I got this injury. Instead you get one chance a day to guess and only when you get it right I'll tell you the full story."
"Seriously?"
I nodded.
He let out a dramatic sigh, "Fine. Fine, but I will get it one day," he walked towards the furthest door down the hall.
"I doubt that," I lightly laughed as he opened the door, revealing a pair of teens chilling in what I could only assume was Ron's room.
"Guys, this is Juliet. Juliet, this is Mikey and Enid," Ron introduced us.
"Hey," Mikey was quick to stand up from his video game while Enid simply glanced up from her comic book. "Hi."
Ron walked over and placed a tender hand around the brunette girl's shoulder. She didn't take any notice as she continued to read, and I got the signal right away. They were together. Shit.
For a split second I felt sad about it, but it quickly vanished as I remembered there was no point on caring.
"Enid's from outside, too. She just came eight months ago," he explained before letting go of his girlfriend. "Want to play some video games? Or Mikey's house has a pool table, but his dad's kind of strict about it."
The other boy shrugged, "It's okay. He's at work."
"Um..." I glanced around the room trying to say something but the words didn't want to come out. My choices used to be do you want to eat this now or save it for when you're starving tomorrow, or do we risk checking out this abandoned house or keep moving. So now deciding between playing video games or pool was a little shell shocking.
The boys glanced at each other, sensing my uncomfortability before quickly apologising, "Sorry, I guess we come on kind of strong. We can just hang out."
Mikey nodded, "You don't even have to talk if you don't wanna."
"Yeah, took Enid three weeks to say something."
I then suddenly felt a small kick to my side, looking back to see the girl giving me a glance, "Pull it together, sport," is all she told me before turning the page.
"Let's, um... you guys have any Taylor Swift cds?"
°˖✧✿✧˖°
"You guys look so weird," I commented as Rick and Michonne showed off their new job attire.
"You saw me wearing this yesterday," Rick deadpanned as Michonne snickered.
I yawned, resting my chin on Judith's head as we watched the two get ready for work, "Still doesn't change the fact."
A few days had passed since we arrived and Deanna had finally given Rick and Michonne a job, the community's constables. They had been given these very flattering windbreakers and were told they were to patrol the streets, watch out for the kids and break up fights if need be.
In my personal opinion giving a sense of power to people you barely knew was stupid beyond belief but who cared what I thought. Not that I'd say anything to begin with.
I let out yet another yawn making Rick raise a brow, "Did you sleep at all last night?"
"Yeah," I lied. "Why?"
"You've struggled to keep your eyes opened all throughout breakfast. I'm sure Sasha flicked a cheerio at you and you didn't move," he exclaimed as Michonne agreed with him.
"I slept fine. I just had a... weird dream. That's all," I tried to avoid the question.
The two didn't look convinced as they finished getting ready, "Yeah. Sure," Rick gave Judith a quick kiss on the forehead before ruffling my hair. "We'll be back in a couple hours for lunch. Maybe take a nap when you put Judith down for hers?"
I rolled my eyes, "Okay."
"Thank you," he went to the door as Michonne pulled me into a squeeze before joining him.
Then as the door closed I let my smile fall as I looked down at Judith, "How are you feeling about this place?" I asked her.
She laughed as her tiny hands clawed at my face, "Yeah. Of course you do."
Over the last couple days I was able to talk to everybody in my family about how they felt about this place and I've noticed one thing they all had in common, they all said they had a good feeling. That this place will be good for us, that we can help it grow, that it had potential.
But no matter how hard I looked I could not see the same.
Maybe it was my age but I could not get used to this. Maybe everyone else was able to so easily acclimate into the setting away from the danger because it was what they had before, but I grew up in the danger. I grew up always having to look behind my back, I grew up having to carry a weapon, I grew up having to fight if I wanted to survive.
So when it came to trying to get used to it, I couldn't, and it made me feel guilty. They worked so hard to find this place and help us not only survive but to live, yet here I was feeling ungrateful.
After playing with Judith a little longer I set her down for her nap and went into what Rick and Michonne designated as my room.
The others had been given the go ahead from Rick to start sleeping in their own homes. Meaning he was also starting to trust this place, or well... he was acting like he did.
Turning the baby monitor on, I placed it on the table before grabbing a blanket and putting it on the carpet. Ignoring the bed completely I sat against the wall and closed my eyes.
The reason I didn't sleep well last night was because of this strange thing I saw. At the witching hour I woke up feeling as if I were being watched. At first I played it off as nothing since it happened all the time before glancing over towards Judith's crib, seeing a shadowy figure standing over it. But right as I wiped the sleep from my eye it was gone.
Needless to say I didn't sleep much after that, but I still kept my mouth shut when it came to the morning. There was no need to say anything. It was probably just a dream anyways.
When I opened my eyes again I was no longer on the floor, instead tucked into the bed. Quickly my body reacted as I jumped out seeing that the baby monitor was gone and the sun was almost down. I guess I was more tired than I thought.
I huffed giving a stretch before glancing to my nightstand seeing the baby monitor was replaced with a neatly folded outfit and note.
𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘐'𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵. 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱.
- 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦
My mouth went slack as the only word I could properly say was, "A party?" I said in disbelief.
Still to keep up appearances I grabbed the outfit and held it up, seeing a pretty black romper with many strange splotches of colours here and there. Cringing as I felt the material rub against my skin. Still I put it on and went downstairs where I could see the two now in much nicer clothing as well.
Michonne let out a whistle as Rick smiled, "Perfect timing, we were just about to come and get yea'."
I put my arms up and gave a spin, "Well I'm here and I'm ready."
"Great because Deanna promised this party was going to have some candy and I could so go for a peanut butter cup right about now," Michonne wrapped an arm around me.
Putting on a smile I glanced between them, "So why are we going to a party exactly?"
Rick finished fixing Judith's pink dress before picking her up with a sigh, "Deanna wants to fully unite us into the community and she thinks this little welcome party is going to do just that," he said not taking his eyes off his daughter. "Isn't that right?" His voice went a little higher as his nose rubbed with Judith's.
"Meaning," Michonne dragged the word out as we started to walk to Deanna's. "I want this cast filled with names by the time we go home," she shook my cast.
I groaned as she lifted my hand up, "Seriously?"
"Yes seriously," her tone matched Rick's moments ago. "You can still see the white and from personal experience that's not a good thing. A cast should be so overlapped with names you can't read any at all!"
"Well I think Daryl took care of that," I pointed to his name in gigantic bold letters, covering the entire bottom.
Rick let out a small chuckle before opening the door and not even two seconds after stepping in Deanna was already running over, "Oh, my. Welcome!"
She gave a bright smile as we stood awkwardly at the door, "Oh, it's so good to see you. Hi, Juliet. Thank you for coming," she thanked Rick before grabbing little Judith's hand. "You know, I didn't get a chance to interview this one. I envy her."
"Why?" Rick asked.
"She'll get to see what this place will become," she explained before motioning us inside. "Come. Come on in."
As she quickly walked ahead I noticed Judith starting to squirm in Rick's grasp, "You want me to take her?" I asked.
"What?" He looked down at me. "Why?"
My brow rose, "I always take her for you?"
He corrected himself, "No- I know that. I'm just asking why you want to. Aren't you supposed to mingle?" He glanced over to Michonne who was now in conversation with Deanne.
I shrugged, "Mingling isn't my thing. I'd... I'd rather just be with her," he didn't look convinced by that answer. "Also... the other kids aren't here yet. Soooo..."
He eventually sighed and gave in, handing me my favourite person in the world, "Only for a bit. When Ron shows up I want her back and you to socialise."
I chuckled, bouncing the baby, "Yes officer."
Which only lasted for a few moments before many people I didn't know were swarming around me and Judith. At first they were simply fawning over her, asking me questions about her and myself before they started to get a little handies.
People were pinching her cheeks, wiggling their fingers in her face and trying to convince me to let them hold her, which I was super against. Being unofficially designated as her main caretaker after Rick I had not so surprisingly developed a level of claim over her. I didn't feel comfortable with people I didn't know near her, let alone touching her.
But that still didn't stop the half drunk people from trying.
Eventually Michonne saw what I was doing and grabbed the baby from me and told me to go hangout with Ron who had just walked in. Still that didn't stop me from following Judith around as she was passed around by the Alexandrians.
"So she's only a year old?" One asked as she bounced Judith up and down.
I cringed, struggling not to fully reach out for her, "Yeah. She- uh. I believe so."
They placed their cheek against hers, causing a fire to grow within my eyes, "Well she's just adorable!"
I felt myself struggling to stay calm as the strangers played with her until Judith started to reach out towards me. Thanking the heavens I went to grab her but she was quickly scooped up by the person behind me, her father, "There's my girl."
Judith let out another happy squeal as her dad kissed her cheek, "Ladies, you mind if I borrow my girls for a moment?" They quickly got the hint and walked away as Rick looked down to me, "I thought you were told to mingle?"
"Okay, I was technically mingling with those people," I pointed at him, defensively.
He slowly blinked before glancing at his daughter, "Was she?"
Judith shook her head, that traitor.
He let out a long sigh as his free hand swirled his drink. I watched the gears in his head turn before he focused on the glass, "Here," he handed it to me. "Drink this."
"Huh?" I looked down at the cold yellow liquid, feeling the condensation of the crystal. Still knowing the rules I took a sip before coughing, "Ew. What is this?"
"Scotch. It's a drink," he grabbed my shoulder and made me face the teens near the corner. "Drink that, loosen up a little and go get that cast signed."
I gasped, "Oh god, not you too-"
"Yes, me too. Michonne was right. You can't just spend every second of your day with Judith. This place is going to be good for us, for you. Just... try to be a kid while you can," he pushed me forward. "Now go and I don't want to see you holding Judy for the rest of the night."
My whining went unnoticed by him as he walked away with the babe.
"Hey Juliet," Ron called out to me, "Come here!"
Glancing over he, Mikey and a younger boy were over by the couches with what looked to be a stack of cards. So deciding to bite the bullet I huffed, chugging my drink and gagging as the contents went down, before walking over.
"Hey guys."
"Perfect timing we're just about to start another round," Mikey dealt me in.
"What are we playing exactly?" I sat next to him.
"Crazy eights," he handed me the cards as Ron leaned forward. "So have you met my brother yet?" He gestured to the boy next to him. "Juliet, this is Sam. Sam, Juliet."
I gave a light smile as he looked me up and down, "She doesn't have a stamp," he whispered to the older boy.
My brow rose, "A stamp?"
Ron shrugged, "He has a small stamper Aaron found a few weeks back," he explained.
I nodded as Sam pulled it out, "You want one?"
"Uh," I glanced over to the other end of the room seeing Rick in conversation with Jessie and her husband before turning back to them. "Sure."
He grinned, grabbing my cast and placing a giant red A on the top of the top, making my small smile completely drop.
All of a sudden I felt like I was splashed with extremely cold water. It felt as if all the air was forcibly taken from my lungs as the images of the Alexandrians were replaced with the gates of Terminus.
At first I saw myself walking through the gates where I was welcomed by a small crowd. One even helped me stand when my legs gave out from sheer relief. I didn't even notice them taking my belongings and makeshift weapons as they led me towards a barbecue, where they gave me my first meal in days.
After eating they told me how absolutely exhausted I looked and asked if I'd like to lay down, which I stupidly agreed too. I only realized my mistake once they started leading me away from the interior and instead to a large crate with a gigantic red A painted on the side.
My arms tensed as the feeling of fingernails dug into my skin, my knees burned from the feeling of being pushed to the ground and my eyes stung at the sight of Gareth's blade only millimetres from my eye.
"Am I right?" The voice of a boy quickly made the flashback dissolve as I spiritually returned to the living room.
Looking up from my cast I saw the three with eyes all fixed upon me, "What?"
I could feel my breath start to increase as Ron went on, "You said I had one guess a day, and you totally got that from jumping out of some moving car before hitting a whole bunch of the dead. Am I right?"
"Um," the room started to feel extremely small as the voices of the crowd only grew. My free hand gripped the seat to study myself as the room felt like it was spinning. "N-no."
He laughed out a scoff as he picked up his cards, "I'll get it eventually. I can only assume it had to be badass."
I felt a sudden grab at my wrist as a white flash sent me back into the van. I cried out as the large man threw me to the concrete. His laughter drowning out the sounds of my friends all screaming and crying for either themselves or for me to be let go.
The back of my neck hurt from the way he yanked me by the hair so my throat would be on full display for Rick and the others. Feeling the sting of his knife as he threatened to kill me.
My hand trailed onto my cast as I felt the wet ink from the stamp seep onto my thumb as I rubbed it. I quickly stood up to the surprise of the boys, "Jewels? You okay?"
I aggressively nodded, "Y-Yep! Yep, just... where's the washroom...? It's uh... ladies things?"
The boys gave each other looks of disgust before pointing me in the direction, which I quickly excused myself. Once I locked myself inside I allowed myself to break down.
As I let all of my anger and frustration out, I couldn't help but feel guilty as every tear went down my cheek. Why couldn't I get used to this? Why was I so on guard? Was there something wrong with me?
As I tried my best to wipe off the A I noticed a large window with a dozen little nick nacks over by the toilet. Huffing I wiped some more tears away before inspecting it.
Seeing the latches I stood up on the toilet seat and hoisted myself up and over the window, landing outside.
Once I was firmly on the ground I prepared to walk away, not to hear another person's voice, "So you're not enjoying the party, huh?"
I froze in my steps and reached for my knife before remembering it wasn't there. Once I turned around I was met by a boy who looked no older than me. He looked just as clean as everyone else here. He had a sleek leather jacket over a grey top and a pair of jeans. With scruffy brown hair covered by a brown sheriffs hat.
Though his look was all tied together by his shit eating smirk that made me completely lose it, "What the hell is wrong with all of you?" I asked.
His smirk quickly dropped as he tilted his head, "Huh?"
"You heard me. What is wrong with all of you?" I pointed at him, "How can you all act so fucking smug and oblivious to what's out there?!"
The boy blinked at me as I finally snapped, "You wine and you dine and pretend everything's okay. Constables, school, video games, parties- what the hell is this place? I spent a good month with a stick and a headband as a cast and you people have enough medical supply that it's literally spilling out of your cupboards. There's enough food here that I literally saw people throwing out half their portions. HALF!"
My hands clutched my hair as I felt the tears spilling out as I started to laugh, "You people have enough food that you keep pets. Fucking dogs are strolling around. Do you know what I did to dogs out there? I ate them! It was the only food out there!"
I let out a couple more sobs before leaning against the house and sliding to the ground, "This place feels so fake yet everyone is acting like it's the most normal thing on the planet," my hand covered my face as I tried to calm myself down.
I thought the boy would've taken the hint to leave but instead I heard him plop down next to me before an ice cold bottle was pressed against my arm.
Glancing up I could see him trying to hand me a half empty beer which I eagerly took. Taking a swig I gagged before taking another, "Thanks," I wiped my mouth.
"So I'm guessing you're also not warming up to the Oh So Perfect Alexandria, huh?" He moved slightly closer.
"What was your first clue?" I sarcastically asked, "Everyone in my group keeps insisting on how it's great here and we can build a life but I already can't stand it here."
He slightly chuckled, "This place that bad? I mean how long have you been here? A week?"
"Not even," I took another sip, burning my throat as it went down. "Yet everyone else already loves it, but I can't tell them that since they went through hell to get me here. So I have to simply act like I'm fine."
"Even though you want to grab your pillow and scream?"
I snapped my fingers, "Exactly. You get that?" I was surprised by his response.
He nodded, taking the beer from me and downing more of it, "Hell yeah. When my first community was built I felt so weird. There was no more running, no leaving the safety of the fences or any of that. We had enemies and you know what we did? Nothing. Fucking nothing," he scoffed. "All my dad wanted me to do was plant vegetables and-"
"Pretend nothing bad was happening," we both said in sync, making me cry out in relief. "Finally! Oh my god, someone around here that gets it!"
"Please," he huffed. "This place is so weak already. They have no one on proper guard duty ever, people can easily come and go from this place and they keep all their weapons in a supply closet with a security system that is... I kid you not, a lock on a window."
My nose turned up, "You're fucking with me right?"
The boy shook his head, "Nope! It's like they're asking to get raided," he took yet another swig. "As if anyone here could use a gun in the first place."
I couldn't help but laugh at the stupidity of it all, "So no one can have a gun on them for safety of the flesh eating monsters but we can keep them unlocked in a garage where anyone who can steal one is totally fine," I threw my head against the wall. "This place sucks."
He nodded, "I can tell."
The two of us sat there for a moment as we could hear the partygoers chatting loudly inside. The amount of lights around the place brought nothing but alarms in my head. The two main things we should be avoiding were being done with no remorse. It made me so upset that it seemed like I was the only one to care.
"Do you think we're the only ones that care because we grew up during this?" The boy suddenly asked.
I glanced back at him, "What do you mean?"
He shrugged as he finished off the beer, "It was the same when I joined my group. It seemed as if the adults kept trying to live in the past while we are just trying to survive the present. They just want to hold on to something that has been dead long ago."
Rubbing my temples I sighed, "You know I think you might be right," I reached out to grab the bottle but he sighed, turning it upside down to show it was empty. "Well there goes our fun."
He let out a small chuckle as I decided to ask the stupid question I had been forced to ask everyone else, "Wanna sign my cast?" I cringed seconds after saying it.
So did he, "Excuse me?"
"Don't blame me. Leaders orders," I grumbled. "Rick and Michonne keep going on about making friends and being a kid while I still can," I gave my hands an overly exaggerated shake.
He looked at me funny for a moment before I grabbed the black sharpie from my pocket, "So? You wanna save me a lecture from my leader or the woman with a sword?"
He slowly took the pen as he shook off the look, "Yeah. Sure," he lightly smiled as he grabbed my arm.
He inspected the work of art and spent a good moment looking over the names, "What's that line right there?" He pointed to the large squiggle mark under Rick's name.
"Judith, my leader's baby, wanted to sign it after her dad did," I smiled. "Well... Glenn held her and helped to the best of the baby's ability."
He laughed, "Well she did a great job."
He pondered for a moment before writing his name next to Judith's but didn't let go once he finished. Instead he trailed his fingers over a few names as I deadpanned, "Dude."
He quickly realized what he was doing and let go, "Sorry. Just curious to see who had signed it," he blushed.
I shrugged it off, "It's okay..." I glanced down at the name he wrote, "Shane."
He quickly nodded, "Yeah. Anything to save you from the lady with the sword."
My face started to finally brighten as I put my uninjured hand out for him, "Well it's nice to meet you properly, Shane. I'm Juliet."
"Nice to meet you, Juliet," he shook it. The two of us started to awkwardly continue shaking hands as we each tried to think of something to say.
"So..." I trailed off.
"So... you got any more beer?" He asked.
My line of sight shifted to the window where I was able to catch a glimpse of red hair, "Give me five minutes," I eagerly stood up.
"I'll be here," he tipped his hat up as I went to steal some stuff.
I couldn't help but feel my dimples begin to resurface as if he had somehow chiselled them out of the concrete they in case themself into.
It was nice to finally talk to somebody who understood what I was going through and it didn't help that he was also not that hard on the eyes.
Maybe I'd finally have a friend here?
His name was Shane, or at least that's what he wrote on my cast.
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